Overview

Sends a payout (withdrawal) request from the merchant system to Paramount. Payouts are deposited directly into the consumer's bank account. There are three methods of Interac payouts:

1. Verified Instant Payouts
2. Instant Payouts to Bank Account Number
3. Payouts via INTERAC e-Transfer

Verified Instant Payouts

This two-step method allows merchants to verify consumer bank account ownership before sending the payout request. The two steps required for this option are:

1. Use the Identity Verification API to retrieve the consumer's bank account details.
2. Process the payout using the INTERAC Payouts API and include the consumer's banking information that were retrieved by the Identity Verification API as described in step 1. In the account_number field of the payout request, pass the fiNumber, fiTransitNumber, and fiAccountNumber from the Identity Verification notification, as described in the account_number description in Payout Request parameters.

Instant Payouts to Bank Account Number

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Limited to Supported Financial Institutions Only

Payouts to bank account number is limited to participating financial institutions with INTERAC. See Payouts via ANR Supported Banks and Payout Request Parameters for more details.

Instant Payouts require the consumer's valid bank account number (account_number) to be included in the Payout Request parameters. The payout amount is immediately deposited directly into the consumer's bank account. If an incorrectly formatted account number is included in the request, error B018 is returned in the payout notification.

Payouts via INTERAC e-Transfer

If a bank account number (account_number) is not included in the payout request, and the consumer has enabled INTERAC auto-deposit, the payout amount is immediately deposited directly into the consumer's bank account via INTERAC e-Transfer.

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Allow Non-Auto Deposit Payouts

To process payouts via INTERAC e-Transfer for consumers who have not enabled auto-deposit, merchants must have their Paramount accounts configured to allow non-auto-deposit payouts. Contact your Paramount account manager for more information.

Payout Request

The payout request parameters identify the merchant and consumer and specify the details of the payout transaction. See Payouts API for request details.

Payout Request Parameters

The parameters included in a payout request are described in Payout Request parameters.

1. Build and encode the request parameters in the application/x-www-form-urlencoded format.

   unencrypted details parameteriv parametermerchant_id parameter

   details=merchant_id=TestMerchant&merchant_sub_id=0&merchant_user_id=CUSTOMER1&merchant_txn_num=1638830336525&txn_amount=10.00&txn_currency=CAD&first_name=Test&last_name=Customer&phone_number=+16476476477&merchant_customer_email=user%40domain.com&return_url=https%3A%2F%2F[www.paramountcommerce.com&extra_field_1=Test+Transaction](http://www.paramountcommerce.com&extra_field_1=Test+Transaction)

   iv=8d77a05d256659fc362606f1d0483a51

   merchant_id=TestMerchant

2. Encrypt the details URL encoded request parameter using cipher AES-256/CBC/PKCS5Padding.

   encrypted details parameter

   details=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

   See the Interac - Merchant encrypted request recipe for instructions to do the encryption.

Example Payout Request

details=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&iv=d77a05d256659fc362606f1d0483a51&merchant_id=TestMerchant

Merchants can refer to their INTERAC staging environment document for the specific merchant encryption key for their account.

INTERAC Payout Security Questions and Answers

Security question and answer are optional. When a consumer does not have INTERAC auto-deposit enabled, their bank will prompt them to provide a security answer before they can accept a payout. You can handle this in two ways:

Option 1 — Merchant-supplied Q&A
You provide the security question and answer in the request and attach it to the request.

Option 2 — System-generated code
Omit security_question and security_answer and set qa_notification_channel to sms or email. Paramount generates a 6-digit code and sends it to the consumer via the chosen channel so they can accept the transfer. You must supply the consumer’s email or phone as appropriate for the chosen channel.

If you provide account_number, the payout uses account-number routing and security Q&A are not used (regardless of where the question or answer are generated). To process payouts to consumers who do not have auto-deposit enabled, your Paramount account must be configured to allow non–auto-deposit payouts.

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INTERAC e-Transfer Security Questions Requirements if non paramount generated

• Security questions must be between 6 and 40 characters. Answers must be between 6 and 25 characters.
• Recommended security questions and answers are included in the INTERAC Brand Requirements page.
• The security_question and security_answer fields will only be used if the account_number field is not included in the payout request.

Payout Response

Immediately after the payout request is received by Paramount, a payout response is sent to the merchant system to confirm that the request was received.

Payout Response Parameters

The payout response includes the transaction status (pending) and any applicable payout request errors.

Example Payout Response

{
  "txn_num": "20250320120107694724062313",
  "merchant_txn_num": "usr_12345",
  "txn_amount": "30.00",
  "txn_fee": "0.0",
  "txn_status": "P",
  "routing_decision": "EFT",
  "routing_decision_reason": "unsupported_institution",
  "error_code": null
}

Payout Notification

After Paramount processes the payout request, it sends a payout notification to the transaction notification URL specified by the merchant during the system integration.

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EFT Routed Payout Notifications

Payout notifications for EFT routed transactions are typically sent within 24 hours of submission on business days. Transactions submitted on weekends or Canadian statutory holidays will have notifications sent on the next business day.
EFT settlement timing may vary based on cut-off times, transaction type, and the recipient’s financial institution. While same-day settlement is possible, it’s not guaranteed. Notifications reflect processing status, not final settlement.

Payout Notification Parameters

The payout notification includes the same parameters included in the payout request, plus the final transaction status and any applicable error codes.

Example Payout Notification

{
    "txn_num": "20210218134422846368000000",
    "merchant_user_id": "usr_12345",
    "txn_fee": "0.00",
    "txn_currency": "CAD",
    "user_id": "1613383943978-PSGEO06F",
    "txn_type": "F",
    "merchant_txn_num": "abc12345",
    "error_code": "",
    "merchant_id": "SmplMcht",
    "txn_amount": "40.00",
    "txn_status": "S"
}

Payout Errors

If a payout can't be completed successfully, there are two types of codes that may be included in the error_code field in the payout notification: Payout request error codes and Payout result error codes.

Payout Request Error Codes

Payout request errors are caused by missing or invalid parameters in the request. These error codes begin with B.

Payout Result Error Codes

If a payout can't be completed successfully, the relevant error code is included in the payout notification.